THE REFERENDUM 
as my little .25-20 Marlin repeater is about as 
near perfection as can be made at the present 
time, I prefer to have it remain so if possible. 
It is amusing to read of some fellow hunter 
that thinks the .32-40 and .303 caliber just 
right for woodchucks. It seems strange that 
an animal as small as a woodchuck, although 
hard to kill, should need a bullet that is power- 
ful enough to bring down moose and bear. I 
think a .25-20 plenty large enough. I expect 
next to read of some one using a .405 or 
a .50-I10-300. 
I should like to ask some of the readers of 
RECREATION who have used the .32 Colt’s 
automatic pistol if it is a perfectly safe arm to 
carry in the pocket, if carried at full cock? 
Is not the safety slide liable to work down, and 
release the action slide? It seems to me that 
in drawing from the pocket the finger might 
touch the trigger and the pressure of the hand 
might compress the automatic safety and 
discharge the arm. 
Will some one kindly enlighten me? 
“SMALL CALIBER.” 
Elyria, Ohio. 

Many There Be 
I am going to buy a rifle soon, and if you 
could give me a little information through your 
columns it would be much appreciated. I want 
a gun that I can use most of the time for small 
game. I want to use shells that will not spoil 
a ten-cent piece every time I shoot the gun off— 
in other words, I want to use low-priced ammu- 
nition. But further, I want a gun that I can 
on occasion take along when I go through a 
deer or bear country and feel assured that, by 
using the high-pressure smokeless powder 
ammunition, I am prepared for either. What 
gun will fill the bill? 
I am not much of an expert in rifle lore and 
am at present wavering between the .32-40 and 
the .38-55. Will both of these guns shoot the 
ordinary cheap cartridge, that is, the straight .32 
and .38? 
I presume the high-power ammunition will 
do the business in either arm. Will it be 
necessary to specify a nickel steel barrel in 
ordering or are the regular rifles, say, the 
Winchester, built for smokeless powder? 
F.T. Woop. 
Vegreville, Alberta, Canada. 
[There are many American rifles that fulfill 
all the qualities you demand. The Marlin, 
Winchester, Remington and Savage factories 
each turn out rifles that would suit you. Write 
to them, and also to the Ideal Manufacturing 
Company of New Haven, for their latest cata- 
logue. We think the .38-55, for both high-power 
285 
and black powder loads, would suit you the best. 
It is the favorite caliber in Canada; next 
coming the .30-30, then the .303, and after 
that the .32 Special. In the mountains a few 
heavier rifles are carried, such as the .35 and 
.405, but they are in the minority.—ED.] 

An All-round Revolver 
I have three revolvers—one .38 Colt’s D. A., 
one .38 Colt’sS. A., 1871 model, and a .32 Colt’s 
New Police. For target practice I like the old 
S. A. 74-inch barrel the best, but for ‘‘toting 
round” the D. A. .38 is my gun. For game, 
from wild goats to cattle, it can’t be beat. I 
use the S. & W. special cartridges in the gun and 
find it kills as well as a .44 or a .45. But for 
smaller game it’s no good. I shot a quail the 
other day and had some skin and feathers left— 
the bullet took the rest. 
If a new gun is to be built, I should like one 
made to use the .25-20 W. C. F. cartridge, 
also the W. H. V. This, to my mind, would be 
a good all-round gun—suitable for small and 
large game—the gun to be built on the lines of 
the old S. A. Frontier, with swing-out cylinder. 
I should like to hear from readers of RECREA- 
TION who have used the gun what they think 
of the Luger automatic pistol, as I am thinking 
of getting one. Eric S. EDWARDS. 
Hoopuloa P. O., South Korea, Hawaii. 

Likes the .32 H. P. Best 
In answer to my inquiry why any one should 
prefer the .32 H. P. Special cartridge to the 
.32-40 H. P., the editor’s note says, ‘‘The 
reason many prefer the .32 Special is because 
it has 300 foot-seconds higher velocity and 300 
foot-pounds more energy.” 
That may be true, and according to the 
tables of velocity and energy, is true of these 
two cartridges when one uses the low pressure 
smokeless powder in the one and H. P. powder 
in the other, but load them both with high- 
pressure powder as the regular .32-40 H. P. is 
loaded and it has greater velocity and more 
energy than the .32 Special. Their velocity and 
energy, as given by the U. M. C. Co. in listing 
these cartridges, are as follows: .32 Winchester 
Special, muzzle energy 1,550 foot-pounds, 
muzzle velocity 2,057 feet, trajectory 200 
yards height at too yards, 5.790 inches. For 
the .32-40 Mar. H. P., muzzle energy 1,558 
